Dante's Inferno is clearly aimed at English majors and angsty teenage boys eager for anything that smacks of Devil May Cry or God of War. With the target demographic so narrowly focused, Electronic Arts has no compunction about insulting Christians to advertise the game. Similarly, they don't seem to care about insulting women, which seems odd to me, since many women major in English. So I was a bit surprised at EA's Comic Con contest, which challenged entrants to photograph "acts of lust" with the show's booth babes. The winner would -- according to the contest's Facebook page -- "win the hottest girl at Comic Con" (this translated to dinner with two hired models, one of whom was presumably the hottest girl at Comic Con).

But the really funny part comes when Electronic Arts has the presence of mind to single out a token homosexual entrant. Above is one of the photographs submitted for the contest. The guy on the right is a regular blogger at GayGamer.net who posts under the name PixelPoet. He submitted the picture, which is from last year's Penny Arcade Expo, as a prank. When he was notified by EA that he had been selected as a runner-up, he responded with a scathing letter.

...while I am grateful that you have chosen my submission as a runner-up, I feel I must decline your free t-shirt and $240 gift certificate to the EA Store. Instead of giving that $240 away, I would prefer the money to be used in the following ways:
1) A new sexual-harassment training video/seminar
2) Another PR team to try to spin this whole debacle of a contest into a positive light
3) A direct phone line to EA's legal depart to use before you try anymore PR stunts
4) Six copies of your game when it releases, since I know you've lost at least that many fans with this stunt
5) Or the next time you go to Hooters (for the wings, of course), leave a $240 tip for your waitress in a karmic way of balancing out what has been done to the booth babes of [San Diego Comic-Con] due to this contest

As the letter mentions, the sad irony of the entire episode is that two weekends ago Electronic Arts held a seminar with GayGamer.net and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to discuss issues of homophobia in videogaming. One step forward, two steps back.

(Thanks Matt Keil.)